yellow horned cow fish?

[kegs7]

i have a reef tank with fish. lots of corals,fish are....clown pair,coral beauty,hippo,watchman goby,2 very small scooter blennys. all my fish are calm,and i would like to add a cow fish(very kool) but i seem to remember somthing about if it's threatened it may emitt a poisen that could kill the rest of my tank....is this true?casue i can't remember where i may have or not read it. thanks

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by kegs7
http:///forum/post/3176988
i have a reef tank with fish. lots of corals,fish are....clown pair,coral beauty,hippo,watchman goby,2 very small scooter blennys. all my fish are calm,and i would like to add a cow fish(very kool) but i seem to remember somthing about if it's threatened it may emitt a poisen that could kill the rest of my tank....is this true?casue i can't remember where i may have or not read it. thanks
You did read it. I'd do some serious research on cowfish...great fish; but can be toxic and are very difficult to keep. IMO, a fish like this should be the 1st fish introduced.

 

[snowkitten]

OMG, I have a yellow horned cow fish (aka "the alien"). He's my favorite. He always watches me, coming down the hall, in the kitchen, in the family room with his big blue eyes. I don't know if I'm reading too much into his intelligence, but if he sees a strange person looking into the tank, he stands back. The Alien knows he's the first one to get fed, so he is first one to the top at dinnertime and eats off my fingers. The Alien only gets fresh/frozen food and gets along quite well with everyone. My favorite by far.

 

[kegs7]

snowkitten....do you have corals? because i was told when they die they release a toxin that will destroy ur tank

 

[snowkitten]

No corals. I had a cowfish several years ago that died. It was very sad, but he didn't seem to release any toxins, and no other fish were affected. I did segregate him right away when he was sick, though. The Alien is very happy. I was thinking about getting coral, but, while I like the look, I sure don't want to add anything to upset my happy bunch.

 

[eric b 125]

yes, they can release a toxin when they die. moreso, they can release this toxin when they are overstressed, which can kill all the tankmates including the cowfish itself

 

[small triggers]

and they get BIG,,,,,if they ever grow up,,, I havent heard of one living longer than about 5 years of anyone ive known to have one though...and of the few people ive known to have different ones only one ever released any toxins and it didnt do much but he was home and saw it die.....and did a big water change within like an hour of it happening and ran a bunch of carbon..( i might mention this was a 300ish gallon tank also.. so it could have been very diluted)

 

[ophiura]

I personally would suggest keeping them in a species tank, so you can control, among other things, the amount of flow in the tank.
They will always be somewhat of a time bomb in a tank with other fish. You have to be willing t lose them all at some point...it may never happen, but there is a chance it will.